668th Friday Blog Roundup

This week I taught the youth of America what it is like to be a writer for Career Day.  I am always shocked when anyone asks me to talk about anything.

The kids begged me not to add into my presentation how much time I spend bouncing ideas off of Linus the Guinea Pig.  I did admit that one of the best reasons to be a writer is that you are at home with all of the Halloween candy.  The second best reason to be a writer is that you know multiple definitions for words like sanguine, so you’re helpful when other people are doing the crossword puzzle on the Metro.  The third best reason to be a writer is for that moment when you open the box with copies of your book.

And you get to spend your day with characters who interest you (that you hope also interest everyone else).

Maybe I planted a little mental seed for someone at the school and they’ll tell me about their book one day.

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Stop procrastinating.  Go make your backups.  Don’t have regrets.

Seriously.  Stop what you’re doing for a moment.  It will take you fifteen minutes, tops.  But you will have peace of mind for days and days.  It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week.  In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Waiting at the Clinic” (Countingpinklines)
• “10 Years Down the Road Less Travelled” (The Road Less Travelled)
• “The Weight of the Moment” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, Cristy!
• “Her Son is Only Hers. She Can’t Bear to Think Otherwise” (Lavender Luz)
• “Knowing What is Important” (No Kidding in NZ)
• “#MicroblogMondays: Flip” (Searching for Our Silver Lining)

Okay, now my choices this week.

In Quest of a Binky Moongee has a post about her mother slipping into the role of grandmother.  It is a sweet post about life after a long, family building wait.  She writes: “Of course she knows that they have no genetic connections to her. And of course this fact makes no difference in her love for them. My mother is truly an inspiration for me to learn how to be patient with my babies when sleep is lacking and crying and whining become frequent.”  I got choked up reading it.

Countingpinklines charts out her last IVF cycle, passing it along to anyone who wants to see because it’s exactly what she would have wanted before she started this process.  She explains, “From what I’ve read, it doesn’t seem like IVF cycles are very different between individuals. Meds and doses vary but the time frames are roughly the same. I wish I had this diagram before doing the whole process. It would have helped me wrap my mind around what was going on much more.”  This is what I love about our community; our impulse to pass along anything we know.

Lavender Luz has a post about a parent and child joking about adoption.  She realizes in the moment that they’re not being cruel.  “It’s just that they’ve never thought of the implications of treating adoption as a joke.”  She opens up a conversation about it, speaking without judgment but merely giving the mother food for thought.  It’s a really great post about thinking on your feet.

Lastly, holding One Step at a Time in my heart after the death of her father.  She has a very moving post about his last days.  It opens: “My father took his last breath while I was on the beach with Nicky. Nicky was running back and forth in the water with his hands up like a traffic officer, telling the waves to stop rolling in. “You can’t stop the waves from coming, Nicky.” You can’t stop death from coming either.”  Please go give her a hug.

The roundup to the Roundup: Not messing up Career Day.  Your weekly backup nudge.  And lots of great posts to read.  So what did you find this week?  Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between November 3rd and 10th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week?  Read the original open thread post here.